a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. the notorious nut rage case is now before the courts. a judge is deciding the fate of a former korean air executive. chinese police say they have detained large numbers of people suspected of trying to join islamic extremist groups abroad. and japan's largest opposition party has a new leader who faces the daunting

challenge of rebuilding in an effort to one day reclaim power. the woman at the center of the nut rage case has appeared in court for the first time. the former korean air vice president was indicted after delaying a plane over how nuts were served. she has pled not guilty to charges of violating safety law. nhk world reports from seoul. >> reporter: the trial opened on monday in seoul. cho, the daughter of the airline's chairman delayed one of its flights out of airport in new york on december 5th. she'd been outraged when a cabin attendant offered her nuts in a bag, rather than on a plate. the plane was taxiing for takeoff but she demanded that it return to the gate. she also ordered the cabin service chief off the flight. south korean prosecutors indicted her this month for

forcibly changing a flight plan in violation of aviation safety regulations. about six weeks since the in-flight outburst the so-called nut rage incident continues to rock south korean society. scores of local and foreign journalists have gathered at a district court in seoul to cover the first session of her trial. cho's lawyer said she's very sorry for what she did but they added that since the plane was only 17 meters away from an apron when it returned the action did not violate regulations. the case has drawn a storm of criticism in south korea. people say cho acted the way she did only because she's the chairman's daughter. she has since resigned from all of her posts at the airline. >> translator: i am deeply sorry

for causing this problem. >> reporter: cho's father is also the chairman of one of south korea's most powerful business conglomerates. its assets include the airline and a shipping firm. >> translator: my parenting was lacking. i'll do my best that nothing like this happens again. >> reporter: tv and newspaper reports of the scandal appear nearly every day. some focus on conglomerate executive's arrogant leadership style or inflated salaries. if convicted of violating aviation safety rules, cho could face up to ten years in prison. nhk world, seoul. police in china say they have detained more than 1200 people since may who were trying to leave the country illegally. they say they are trying to prevent the would-be immigrants from joining islamic extremist groups abroad.

most of the arrests have been made on china's southwestern borders. the majority of the detainees are believed to be ethnic uighurs. the police said the turkmenistan movement is behind many of the attempts to leave china. the government claims it is a terrorist organization. chinese media reported police shot and killed two ethnic uighurs on sunday on a town with a border with vietnam. they were apparently trying to leave china illegally. world uighur congress an international organization of exiled uighur groups says that the chinese authorities are suppressing the uighur people. they claim that china is using the war against terror as a cover to repress uighurs. the muslim world rose up in a rage over the weekend to speak out against the satirical publication "charlie hebdo." many are congressry the french weekly again depingted the prophet mohammed something considered sacrilegious in islam. it's further fuelling debate

that had been going on long before the fatal shootings at the newspaper. nhk world's craig dale reports. [ chanting ] >> reporter: people protested across the muslim world, all with a similar message, don't insult islam, don't insult the prophet mohammed. they burned down churches in niger. and burned the french flag in jerusalem. they gathered in pakistan as well to denounce the french satirical newspaper "charlie hebdo" for putting an image of the prophet mohammed on its latest cover. something muslims consider blasphemous. pakistan's interior minister said people who are insulting islam in the name of freedom of expression are performing the same role that terrorists are performing at gunpoint. the attack at "charlie hebdo" triggered a global conversation about free speech and religious tolerance.

radical islamists killed 12 people at the weekly, many of them journalists. they said they were avenging the prophet mohammed which the newspaper had depicted in previous issues. but "charlie hebdo" had also made fun of christianity judyism and politicians of all stripes. the french consider it a symbol of one of their core values and after the astack they lined up to buy the so-called survivor's issue. the weekly's editors and cartoonists defended their decision to feature muhammad. they argue secularism is under threat. and as their latest edition sold at newsstands across europe political leaders defended freedom of expression even as authorities in france arrested people for hate speech and praising the paris attacks. the president of france has repeatedly returned the discussion back to religion. >> translator: the attacks in paris are an insult to islam argues francois hollande. other leaders echoed his words. >> let's never lose sight of the

real enemy here, which is the poisonous narrative that's perversing islam. >> reporter: still, as the majority of u.s. limbs in europe join the chorus against islamist extremism some are also voicing concerns. a feeling of increased islam ma -- phobia is taking hold of france's national federation of muslims. he notes mosques and muslim women who wear veils have been attacked. muslims have seen anti-islam demonstrations in recent days. in germany, for example, and they've heard right wing politicians question the tenets of their religion and its place in western society. they see "charlie hebdo's" mocking of their prophet as yet another example of the discrimination they face. academics say the world needs to find a balance. >> is there any way we can negotiate the values held in european societies with regards to the freedom of expression

and, of course the expectations of people who do not share these values, that their values are equally respected and not made the subject of insult. >> reporter: the question is can both sides find common ground? unlikely, some would say. the best many hope for is this global debate will continue to be fought with words and pens, and not guns. craig dale, nhk world. the islamic state militant group has released at least 200 members of the minority yazidi sect. they had held them captive for five months and iraqi officials say most of those freed are ill or elderly men and women. one person released said they were held in the country's second largest city mosul, and said they were transported to an inspection point by buses between militant and kurdish forces held areas. the extremists attacked yazidi villages in northern iraq last

august and abducted several thousand people. they insist yazidis worship the devil. the senior kurdish official says the militants likely freed the captives because keeping elderly yazidi men and women became too much of a burden. it is unknown whether the remaining several thousand people will be let go. islamic state militants claim that they have sold the yazidi women and girls as slaves. troops from chad arrived in neighboring cameroon on sunday to help fight the islamist group boko haram. officials in cameroon asked chad to take part in a joint military operation in areas along the border. chadean president idriss deby called on other african nations to unite to fight the growing threat. >> translator: we cannot be indifferent to what is going on. because we are directly concerned. and we believe cameroon must not be left to face boko haram on

its own. >> members of boko haram attacked a town in northern cameroon early on sunday. they kidnapped dozens of people including 50 children. it's the latest in a series of recent cross-border attacks on towns in cameroon. boko haram is based in northeastern nigeria. the group has carried out many terrorist attacks in the country, as well as in chad, niger, and cameroon. the group has kidnapped many children, forcing boys to serve as combatants, and girls to marry. they're suspected of setting girls and young women on bombing missions. an update on the ebola epidemic. the government of mali has declared the west african nation free of the disease. in october and november six people died from ebola in the country. since then no new cases have been reported there. the government said on sunday that health officials succeeded

in containing the outbreak. it expressed thanks for their efforts, and for international support. the number of new confirmed cases is also following the three worst-hit countries, sierra leone, liberia and guinea. sierra leone and guinea reported their lowest weekly totals of new confirmed cases since last august. >> safe burial teams are providing safe and dignified burial services everywhere. and the result is that we're seeing the beginnings of the outbreak slowing down. >> the united nations says it will be hard to tell when the outbreak finally ends. it adds that international support is still needed. the world health organization says that as of january 14th a total of 21,296 people, mainly in west africa were confirmed or suspected of having ebola. of them 8,429 have died.

members of japan's largest political opposition are trusting a familiar face as they try to get back in power. they've chosen yukada as leader. he is calling on the d-pj to go back to its roots as a revolutionary force with a vision for the future. we spoke earlier with nhk world, and explained the challenges the new leader must tackle. >> first he needs to rebuild the democratic party. it won a record 308 seats in the 2009 general election. nearly a two-thirds majority in the lower house. but the dpj lost the 2012 vote. and it only won 73 seats in last month's election. the former leader lost his seat triggering this leadership race. okada and the two other candidates said the party must win back the trust of voters as it rebuilds. the diet reconvenes this month. and the democrats want to come

together to challenge prime minister shinzo abe's agenda. for example, his new security policy. he needs to take the lead in deliberations in the diet so the dpj's presence is more strongly felt. and he must consider forming aliances with other opposition parties. okada says it's important for the opposition to form a united front against abe's liberal democratic party coalition and he notes even divisions within the dpj must beover come. some democrats aren't opposed to abe's security policy. for example, or his plans to restart nuclear reactors. looking ahead okada needs to get the dpj ready for local elections in three months. and the upper house election will be held in 2016. he says his party will face each vote with a goal of eventually forming a national government again. but he admits it won't be easy. voters will be watching to see if he can turn things around and losing prime minister abe's

grip on power. japanese consumers are feeling better about the state of the economy and ron madison is here with more on this story. ron? >> yeah, that's right, gene. in fact the consumer confidence in japan improved in december for the first time in five months. that's due mainly to falling gasoline prices. officials at the cabinet office polled consumers about their spending outlook over the next six months. the consumer confidence index for december among households of two or more people stood at 38.8. that was up 1.1 point from the previous month. all categories of the index, including overall livelihood and employment improved from the previous month. cheaper gas prices at the pump are one reason for the improvement. now consumers are also looking forward to wage increases, and better job opportunities on the back of recovering corporate earnings. the officials revised their assessment upward citing signs that the declining trend of consumer confidence is bottoming out. it's the first revision since june of last year. japanese electronicsmaker sharp is expecting to post a net

loss for fiscal 2014 for the first time in two years. an earlier forecast by the struggling company had called for returning to prophet. company officials have forecast a net profit of about $256 million for the business year ending march. they now say, though earnings in the lcd panel business for smartphones and tablet pcs declined due to increased competition with rival makers. officials also say the company posted extraordinary losses in restructuring its household appliance business in europe. sharp has been working on its midterm business plan. the officials target a net private of about $680 million for fiscal 2015. storms around the world are showing some pretty mixed trading today. strong u.s. economic data as well as hopes for more policy stimulus in europe are giving a boost to some investors' sentiment. but, the tumble in chinese stocks that we saw has left others a bit jittery today. the shanghai composite take a look at that down 7.7%. the biggest one-day percentage

drop that we've seen since june 2008. this came after chinese securities regulators punished some major brokers for illegal margin trading operations. the plunge in mainland china pushed down hong kong's bench mark hang seng. it was down 1.5%. here in tokyo the nikkei managing to close above 17,000. barely there. up 0.9%. australia's main index snapping a five-day losing streak to close up 0.2%. well major bench marks in europe are looking like this at this hour. all of them are in positive range right now with paris turning around. it's up 0.2%. london gaining, as well about 0.2%. the frankfurt market is up 0.6%. investors are waiting for the policy meeting of the european central bank on thursday. attention is on whether the ecb will launch a bond buying stimulus program. we're seeing the euro still near its 11-year low against the dollar at 1.1601. dollar/yen is at 117.31. strong u.s. economic data prompted buying of the dollar but the rattle on the shanghai

market led traders to turn to relatively safer assets including the yen and bonds. now, that includes the benchmark ten year jgb. its yield dropped to 0.2%. well japan has again eased its entry requirements for chinese tourists. travel agencies say they expect the move to bring many more chinese visitors. officials at the japanese consulate general in shanghai have been accepting the new visa applications. japan has been issuing multiple entry visas to first-time chinese tourists for overnight stays in iwate, miyagi fukushima and oak nagy prefectures. the tourists had to prove annual incomes above a certain level. starting monday the visas will be issued to chinese citizens with lower salaries providing they have visited japan in the past three years. a record 2.2 million chinese tourists visited japan from january to november of last year. the weaker yen has been a major draw. the man in charge of

reviving japan's local economies is at the country's largest business lobby for help. shigeru ishiba wants companies to shift their offices to the countryside. ishiba met with sad yuka sakakibara chairman of the keidanren. ishiba says the government is trying to drastically transform its relationship with local governments and the private sector. he said the government is looking for some new ideas. >> translator: regional economies cannot be reborn without the business sector's support. >> sakakibara said keidanren also considers regional revival and development one of its most important challenges. >> translator: we will closely cooperate with local business groups to tackle the issue. >> keidanren officials asked the minister for tax incentives to encourage the relocation of head office functions. and that is going to wrap it up for biz tonight.

let's see how things are looking upon the on the markets. every morning investors turn their attention to asia. the tokyo market leads the way. and markets around the world follow. >> from the decisions that could change the course of an economy. >> to the companies at the forefront of change. >> up-to-the minute market reports. >> and analysis by specialists from around the world. >> get all the latest business

news and insight every day, here on "newsline." japan's abduction issue minister is offering encouragement to people who want their loved ones returned. eriko yamatani paid a symbolic visit to a site where two japanese were reportedly taken by north korean agents decades ago. the park is in obama city in fukui prefecture on the sea of japan coast. the couple says they were abducted there in 1978 and taken to north korea. they returned to japan in 2002 along with three other abductees. japan's government officially recognizes 17 nationals as having been abducted by north korea in the 1970s and '80s but police and a civilian group say hundreds of missing people nationwide may also have been victims. yamatani met with a couple and relatives of four other people suspected to have been abducted by the north. one of the participants asked

the japanese government to urge pyongyang to release a report on the investigation into the issue as soon as possible. >> translator: i am deeply concerned about the japanese people abducted by north korea who cannot come home. >> yamatani said the government will continue to investigate the abductions in order to reach a resolution. japan and the united nations will co-host an international conference on disaster risk reduction in a city where one struck. a senior u.n. official says thousands of participants from around the world will hear from people who experienced the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. the representative also says they will work together to prepare for similar disasters. margareta walsh attended a memorial air is many for victims of japan's 1995 earthquake saturday in kobe. she commemorated the more than 6,000 people who were killed. an monday in tokyo, walsh stressed the importance of holding at conference in a city affected by the 2011 disaster.

>> this will be very important for the conference participants to see the states of reconstruction but also to meet community members. this brings the real issues around disasters very much to the fore for the conference participants. >> wahlstrom says the world is experiencing more and more natural disasters from earthquakes to huge hurricanes. japan has been hosting a u.n. disaster risk reduction conference every ten years. in 2005 participants endorsed an action plan for the following decade. wall strom says she's aiming for adoption of a new strategy. >> it builds on what we have experienced over the past ten years. so it will include lessons learned from like the great eastern japan earthquake but all the big catastrophes we've seen >> the five-day conference is scheduled to start on march 14th. related meetings are to be held in other cities affected by the

disaster. people are braving the frigid weather in eastern russia. and our meteorologist jonathan oh is here with the latest. jonathan? >> hello, gene. yes, we are talking about some very cold weather taking place. as winter of course is in full force. but we have had pressure that's also driving in the cold air and that's dropping temperatures. some people in eastern russia taking a very different approach to this weather. i want to show you what it actually looked like this past weekend. people decided to go in the water on sunday for a swimming competition. air temperatures negative 25 degrees celsius. water temperature, negative 1 to 2 degrees. but, you know people still decided to take advantage of that in terms of doing a competition for a good cause. participants were from russia france, and the u.s. and then after the competition, the swimmers were treated to hot soup and herbal tea. probably a little bit more time to thaw out from all that cold water. the cold air will still be in place as high pressure controls

the weather in eastern china. driving in the northerly winds for eastern russia but also the main cause for the sea-effect snow coming in to the northern portions of japan, so we will see the air picking up in terms of the wind and we'll see the cold temperatures in place with the snow also increasing. now, we do have what's left over of mekkhala now a tropical depression bringing some rain into luzon. the rain will continue to move toward the north and east. we'll keep an eye on the system because we are looking at the possibility of the system approaching western japan, maybe even generating a little bit of snow. speaking of japan, we also want to keep in mind that as we have these temperatures hovering with the little bit of increase in temperatures and then we have the snow coming back down we have the loose conditions that allow avalanches to possibly take place. so avalanche advisory in effect for the western portions of hokkaido and also the western portions of japan. so please be on the lookout for that. the snow will be picking up. we're talking about high amounts once again as we go into

tuesday. possibly even into wednesday. temperatures topping out at 11 in tokyo. very different story on the eastern side of japan where we're going to see some sunny skies. 4 in seoul. 6 in beijing. chilly in ulan bator with a high of negative 10 on tuesday. cold weather also causing problems into the united states. and as we look at north america we have this low that's moving through the northeastern portions of the u.s. and it has caused icy conditions into pennsylvania new york all the way into maine and because of that, people having problems driving around because of the very slippery conditions on the roadways. that's something you have to look out for as we go through monday. another low pressure system coming in to the northern portions of the rockies. and that's going to bring some snowfall and some rain along the pacific coast. meanwhile, down toward the south, high pressure is bringing some warm air, so highs will be in the teens, 15 in denver 18 in oklahoma city 21 in houston. but once again, new york, chilly, high of 4 with some snow. toronto at 4 below zero. now, looking at europe three points of precipitation. one located in the scandinavian

peninsula. stormy weather down to the iberian peninsula as this low continues to bring in moisture from the mediterranean. and then another low coming into the balkan peninsula. we'll be seeing some rain into athens with a high of 17 on monday. 4 in paris. madrid at 9 degrees with some wet weather in store. wrapping things up we're looking at the forecast for australia. you may notice a system moving toward the southeastern coast and that means more rain expect the as we go into tuesday as the asian cup games continue for these locations right here with highs in the mid to upper 20s. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook.

that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

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t the terror threat in europe this as authorities continue to search for the mastermind of a jihadist cell in belgium. in yemen, with the rebels -- who super bowls -- tutsi rebels opened fire on government officials. and 60 children have been kidnapped, including -- 60 people have been kidnapped including ch